


Through The Mirror

by The_Cats_Paw



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dimension Travel, Gen, Possible Fluff, Team Minato - Freeform, team seven
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 20:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16070465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Cats_Paw/pseuds/The_Cats_Paw
Summary: In a world riddled with war, three people are transported to another world, where someone they lost long ago still lives. AU world meets canon-like world, Team Minato dimension travel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a Stargate SG1 episode, the one where an alternate Sam and Kawalski turn up through the quantum mirror.

They'd been here eight days already, being constantly poked, prodded, and interrogated. They had submitted willingly, taking into consideration the circumstances. The mystery of  _how_  they'd arrived lie in the strange device they'd handed over, however reluctantly. ( _already in so-called_ expert  _hands_ ) With it had come a warning not to activate the seal, lest they get caught up in the same circumstance that the newcomers were in.

These were three people who were supposed to be long dead. Well, two long dead, one more recently. Namikaze Minato, Nohara Rin, and Uchiha Obito. And they weren't even the ages they should have been at the time they were  _all_  last still alive. No, they were much older, at the appropriate point where they'd be if they hadn't died.

All the while, one of their ANBU guards, chakra carefully moulded so that it wasn't recognisable, felt the constant need to run away and stare at a stone.

Hatake Kakashi, who actually  _wasn't_  ANBU anymore, ( _hokagehokagehokage_ ) had felt the need to see them for himself, without revealing his presence yet. Questioning had revealed that to them,  _he_ was the one who was supposed to be dead. The amount of differences that had already been gleaned from their questioning were numerous. To think, one death had changed all that. Of course, Kakashi knew why that was.

( _images of a scarred man,_ _waging war and_ _declaring everything_ _and everyone_ _irrelevant, just an illusion, because he couldn't cope with a loved ones death_ )

"When can we speak with your Hokage?" Minato asked the other ANBU, already having learned the one in the dog mask ( _Kakashi!_ ) wouldn't talk.

"Once we're done with everything," was the only reply he got.

He wasn't sure he could do it. As Kakashi watched his former sensei submit to the latest interrogation, by a Yamanaka this time, that overwhelming urge to run overcame him once more. Standing there in his old ANBU mask, captain's cloak serving as the perfect cover for his tell-tale silver hair, he warred with himself. He was going to have to, he  _knew it_ , but that didn't prevent the old feelings of guilt and grief that welled in him.

( _there'd been enough of that in the war, with his broken, insane team mate, and his undead sensei_ )

He caught the attention of the other ANBU, who nodded in assent, then Kakashi left. Minato barely spared him a glance, the chakra inhibitor he wore one of the many reasons he'd not suspected his former student was the one standing there, watching him. Once outside, he avoided going in the direction the other two were waiting ( _in a c_ _omfortable room, but in the end, still a cell_ ) and headed out to change, his curiosity assuaged, grief greater than before.

He returned to the Hokage tower, burying himself in the paperwork that he generally ignored until his assistant  _made_  him sit there and go through with it.

It was another day before all interrogators were satisfied. Ibiki with his intense questions, the Yamanaka who'd replaced Inoichi, the Hyuuga who sifted through their chakra networks, and the medics who scoured their DNA. Everything checked out.  _Everything_. So now, Kakashi couldn't avoid the meeting. ( _the dreadeddreadded meeting_ ) Before him sat the report on everything they'd learned.

The device was some kind of key, it was what had brought them here. It had been found in the possession of a nukenin, brought back to Konoha and extensively studied. The decision to activate it hadn't been taken lightly, even though it turned out that Minato, Rin, and Obito  _weren't_  the ones who were supposed to do it. That had been an accident, one that had seen them pop up out of nowhere in one of the most secure locations in the village. The alert had immediately sounded, and everything had gone downhill from there.

Now, Kakashi sat in the Hokage office, leaning back in his chair, ( _Naruto's chair, just keeping it warm for him_ ) Shikamaru right behind him and to his left as his advisor, two ANBU, invisible and watching the room for  _any_  threats. Any moment now, they were going to be led into the room ( _noescapenoescape_ ) and Kakashi had been repeating over and over to himself that everything would be  _fine_.

And yet, when his old ( _but not really_  his) sensei and team mates walked in the door that his assistant opened, the shocked look on their faces and Minato-sensei's almost hushed utterance of, "Kakashi?" almost broke him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world riddled with war, three people are transported to another world, where someone they lost long ago still lives. AU world meets canon-like world, Team Minato dimension travel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an annoying chapter to write, that took seven or eight drafts to get it right.

They were frozen in one place, and it took the two ANBU escorting them, giving them a nudge to break them out of their shock enough to step fully into the room, the door closing behind their guards who strode in with them. Stepping into the Hokage office, Minato hadn't expected to see his lost student before them, taller than before, of course. And older, so, so much older. A name was pulled involuntarily from his lips, a name he hardly spoke without feelings of nostalgia and self blame.

"Kakashi," Minato managed once more, this time sounding a little more composed. "You're Hokage… I didn't think taking up the Hat was something you were interested in doing."

He knew that the Hokage wasn't another version of himself, there'd been clues for that. So. Was he dead then? Perhaps retired? But that question could wait for the moment.

"Well, life throws continuous surprises at us," Kakashi remarked, noting with a pointed look, "We all find ourselves in situations we'd never considered."

_That_  was certainly true.

"I'm assuming that you wanted to discuss our circumstance," Minato said. "What you're going to do with us, how much freedom we'll have, if any."

"If any? What do you mean by that?" Obito demanded, looking surprised at the idea that he wouldn't get to just roam around the village, with or without an ANBU tailing him.

"It's only logical," Rin said. "We're not from here. Imagine if someone had turned up in  _our_  village like this, 'Bito."

Obito frowned, but let it be.

"It's already been decided," Kakashi said. "After a lengthy discussion with the elders and my advisors, we've decided to put you in temporary accommodations until we can figure out how to send you home again. The research division has already requested assistance if any of you know how the device works."

"None of us really worked on it in our own world," Rin said. "But sensei might be able to help, after all the briefings he had to go to."

"That's true," Minato mused.

"That would be a great help," Kakashi said. "Right now, though, we can go over everything briefly, so you can help me understand why you're here."

"Since you've read likely the reports," Minato said, "you would know the reason we're here, even though the three of us weren't the first choice for the mission."

Nodding, Kakashi said, "That's something that the council is still debating."

The man before them was so different, Minato realised, truly comprehended. And yet, there were still something he could spot instantly. Like when his former student was uncomfortable in a situation, as he was right now. It was obvious that it was because they were there, but to what extent was it? Pushing that aside for the moment, he listened as Kakashi spoke once more.

"Tell me yourself, then, why you're here," he asked. "From what the report says, you were sending a team on with the device anyway."

"Well…" Minato started, only for Obito to interrupt.

"We were going to see if we could find someone willing to help," he said. "The village was under attack, and we were losing,  _badly_. In fact, everyone else might have already lost while we've been here."

"We were hoping to get a boost in numbers, if only just to repel the invaders," Minato added in. "But with the direct attack on the village… Well, I don't know how much of it will actually still be there if and when we go back."

"If?" Rin and Obito both asked at once.

"That depends on what happens here," he told them, "and whether or not the device can be reversed. Didn't anyone tell you two that?"

His two former students and fellow dimension travellers shook their heads.

"Anyway," Minato went on. "The three of us were cornered near the device with no escape. I suppose it was an act of desperation that had us activating it and coming here."

This whole time, Kakashi had been listening attentively, and now, he sighed and briefly closed his eyes. "I don't know about if we can actually figure out how to send you back," he said. "In the meantime, it's been decided that the three of you will be housed in one of our guest safe-houses. You'll be able to go into the village if you need to, but you will use a henge, and be escorted by ANBU at all times. We would prefer  _not_  to advertise that you're here, for various reasons."

"Why do we need a henge and escort to go in the village?" Obito demanded.

"Think about it, 'Bito," Rin told him, jabbing him in the ribs. "We don't want to run into someone we know and mess something up. Or even into ourselves!"

Obito grunted, whether in pain from the jab to his ribs, or acknowledgement of Rin's words, Minato had no idea. What he did know, was that Kakashi stiffened at her words. It was slight, barely noticeable, but Minato  _saw it_. And it seemed the so far silent Shikamaru also noticed, because he chose that moment to speak up.

"That's only half right," he drawled in that typical lackadaisical Nara way. "You  _may_  run into someone who would recognise you here, but none of you will be coming into contact with yourselves."

Minato went cold at that, just  _knowing_  what was about to be said. Obito, on the other hand, certainly did  _not_  get it.

"What? Did you send us off on some mission or something?"

Kakashi and Shikamaru exchanged a look, then, after a nod from his Hokage, Shikamaru said plainly, "You're not on a mission. You're all dead."

Minato sighed even as Rin and Obito's jaws slackened.  _Way to break the news_ , he thought.


End file.
